Алефhttp://alef-bg.org/en
Център за еврейско-българско сътрудничествоTue, 18 Dec 2018 14:30:38 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.937 Tombstones Desecrated at Jewish Cemetery in Francehttp://alef-bg.org/en/%d0%be%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b2%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8-%d1%81%d0%b0-37-%d0%bd%d0%b0%d0%b4%d0%b3%d1%80%d0%be%d0%b1%d0%bd%d0%b8-%d0%bf%d0%bb%d0%be%d1%87%d0%b8-%d0%b2-%d0%b5%d0%b2%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%b9/
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:53:32 +0000http://alef-bg.org/?p=4150LONDON — French officials paid their respects Friday at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg, where 37 tombstones and a monument to Holocaust victims had been defaced with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti in the same week that a deadly attack that shook the nation.

“When a place of recollection is desecrated, it’s the entire Republic that is sullied,” Christophe Castaner, France’s interior minister, wrote on Twitter after visiting the cemetery in Herrlisheim. “Everything is being done to identify and detain the authors of this desecration.”

The authorities have not said if they have any suspects in the vandalism, which took place Monday night or Tuesday morning in Herrlisheim, a town of fewer than 5,000 people a few miles from Strasbourg, in the northeast corner of France.

The incident came at a tense time for the nation, shaken by what the authorities called a terrorist attack at a Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the “Yellow Vest” protests of recent weekends and a rise in anti-Semitic acts.

]]>The Jewish necropolis near Karnobat is still waiting for a decision for renovation and conservationhttp://alef-bg.org/en/english-the-jewish-necropolis-near-karnobat-is-still-waiting-for-a-solution-for-renovation-and-conservation/
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 13:28:46 +0000http://alef-bg.org/?p=4144Ukraine Jewish cemetery gets protective fence with German funds

BERLIN (JTA) — One of Ukraine’s largest Jewish cemeteries has a new protective fence built with German federal funds.

The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, or ESJF, based in Germany announced Monday that the fencing of the late-16th century Buchach Cemetery in western Ukraine has been completed. Among the town’s illustrious progeny were Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon and Austrian Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The parents of Sigmund Freud also were born there.

The site, located in a region that was part of Poland before World War II, has some 2,000 gravestones over about three hectares, or some 7.5
acres, making the fencing project the largest of all 107 fencing projects undertaken by the ESJF to date. Several more projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

According to the group’s website, the first priority for protection work involves the construction of walls around the boundaries of cemetery sites, including placement of a locking gate within the wall structure and a general cleaning of the site.

The ESJF, which was founded in 2015 as an international nonprofit organization,is funded by the German government. It has fenced Jewish cemeteries in seven Central and Eastern European countries, many in the towns and villages whose Jewish residents were murdered en masse during the Holocaust. There were virtually no local Jewish communities left to look out for the sites, according to the foundation.

Most Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe have been neglected and vandalized over the decades, with no one left to care for them.

Rabbi Isaac Schapira, who chairs the cemetery initiative, said in a statement that the Buchach community dates back 500 years and was home
to “many great figures” whose works “still affect us today.”

“[W]e owe our ancestors this mark of respect by ensuring their final resting places are restored and preserved,” said Schapira, who lives in both London and Switzerland.

Philip Carmel, CEO of the ESJF, called the project “a last minute rescue.”

He said that not only do the fences help secure cemeteries from vandalism, they also remind local non-Jews that “there were significant Jewish communities in these areas and hopefully helps create a sustainable link to a Jewish past across Europe.”

]]>Support the good acts of “Alef”http://alef-bg.org/en/%d0%bf%d0%be%d0%b4%d0%ba%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%82%d0%b5-%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b5-%d0%b4%d0%b5%d0%bb%d0%b0-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d0%b0%d0%bb%d0%b5%d1%84/
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 15:33:23 +0000http://alef-bg.org/?p=4130Center “Alef” defends its cause to develop understanding and tolerance between people, to keep historical memory and to counteract its black pages to dissolve again.
That’s why “Alef” works with young people! The future depends on them. We provoke them towards knowledge, art and activity. And the national literary contest “Who saves one human life, saves the whole universe” is an expression of curiosity, knowledge and talent!

The review of its five editions is: more than eight hundred students from 65 settlements in the country. In the sixth literary contest can participate university students as well. We are looking for the best fictional stories for love, friendship, mutual assistance and sacrifice between Bulgarians and Jews.

We are looking for friends as well, who want to support the initiative. Become our associates! Join morally and financially in our endeavours to stimulate young people towards art and acts of good.

]]>Center “Alef” launches a museum exposition about the history of the Jewish community in Bulgariahttp://alef-bg.org/en/%d1%86%d0%b5%d0%bd%d1%82%d1%8a%d1%80-%d0%b0%d0%bb%d0%b5%d1%84-%d0%bf%d0%be%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%b2%d1%8f-%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%87%d0%b0%d0%bb%d0%be-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d0%bc%d1%83%d0%b7%d0%b5/
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 10:06:09 +0000http://alef-bg.org/?p=4127One of the causes of the Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation “Alef” in Burgas is to be like a guardian of history memory. After creating the documentary movie about the Jews of Burgas, “To Remember”, the association turned to the idea of creating a mini-museum for the history of the Jewish community in Bulgaria.
We have only read books and we have only watched movies about how the Jews have lived in peace and understanding with their neighbors and fellow citizens but it is quite another thing to be able to see things and documents illustrating their lives – menorah, kippah, shofar… the yellow star that they were obliged to wear during the Holocaust, even a bag, specially sewn to put the things they could take with them during deportation.

A small part is already available, mainly photos, letters and documents, as well as a video that tells about the culture and the way of living of the Jewish people.

Center “Alef” appeals to all Bulgarians and Jews living in Bulgaria who have preserved substantial memories from the history of their families: discover the pieces of memory and give them a second life as part of a museum exposition.

Besides that the exposition will be positioned in a mini-museum, it will also be filmed and arranged in an exhibition that will be able to travel to all over the country. It will be an excellent illustrator for historical talks, especially related to the Holocaust and the Bulgarian Jews rescued by the Nazi camps. This subject is popular not only in Bulgaria, (a few days ago Bulgaria was accepted as a full member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), but all around the world, where there are attempts anti-Semitism to be revived.

Send or bring your material memories to the office of Center “Alef”. The memories that are on paper will be photographed and returned to you after registration in the log-book of the museum exposition.

It is worth it to look at the old chests – sometimes priceless testimonies of the past can be found in them.